The present invention relates to means for securing a connector assembly to a printed circuit board and in particular to a connector assembly having specially formed rivets to retain the assembly on a printed circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,618 discloses an electrical connector for mounting to a printed circuit board. The connector includes an elongate dielectric housing having flanges at opposite ends thereof, the flanges having coplanar mounting surfaces received against the board. Each flange has a hole therethrough which is aligned with a respective hole in the board for riveting the connector to the board, which operation requires use of tooling on the opposite side of the board.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 786,456 filed Oct. 11, 1985, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a connector assembly having drawn rivets for securing the assembly to a printed circuit board. The rivets each have a flange, a tubular shank and a generally conical closed end tapering from the shank to a tip remote therefrom. The shank has elongate slots therein extending substantially parallel to the axis of the shank dividing the shank into segments which join at the closed end. After a rivet is inserted into an aperture in the connector flange it is subjected to axial compression to cause the slots to open as the shank expands radially between the mounting face of the connector flange and the closed end. When the connector assembly is mounted to a printed circuit board, a force is applied axially with respect to the rivet. The conical end provides a lead in to align the rivet with a corresponding aperture in a printed circuit board. As the rivet moves into the printed circuit board aperture the segments of the shank compress radially to comply to the printed circuit board aperture.
It has been found that the insertion force of such a rivet is so great as to be undesirable. Causing the radially inward deflection of the shank segments attached at one end to the shank and at the other end to each other is similar to displacing material in a solid post. It would be desirable to have a rivet having the retention properties of the known rivet but with a lower insertion force.